Disappearing CD-RW & DVD-ROM Drives in Win XP

[Telecorder]

Disappearing Drive in Win XP

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My apologies for the length but am unsure of specific diagnostic data needed for trouble shooting responses. From perusing the threads, there are a lot of competent people who are really sharp in these matters. If additional info/diagnostics are needed, let me know. I've researched a lot of Liteon/Microsoft/Intel et al web sites but haven't found the resolution, as yet.

I've posted the following on other boards with one response that has provided some assistance but am still plagued and mystified by the problem. The following was my original post. Current status follows the initial post.

PROBLEM:
Disappearing Drives
(sometimes hours after startup; sometimes minutes after; Reboot resets drives; Reads previously burned CD-RW info OK):

Internal: LITE-ON LTR-24102B Firmware:5S54 Driver:cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)

Internal: LITEON_DVD-ROM_LTD163 Firmware:GH5E
Driver: cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
(Afraid to flash updated firmware until issue(s) are resolved)

When Intel Application Accelerator is installed, Event Viewer shows Idechndr is not responding within timeout and the error cycles every 5 seconds slowing system response until it shows both the devices (CD-RW and DVD) disappearing from system.

Tried using Intel Accelerator to slow the drive speeds down to PIO (per Intel guidance) w/o success. Intel Accelerator initially shows the CD-RW as Master on Secondary IDE Channel and DVD as Slave. Hard Drive is shown as Master on Primary and Empty on Primary Slave until devices disappear.

Uninstalled Intel Accelerator and now the event viewer shows error of Device\Ide\IdePort1 and then IdePort0 failing to respond within timeout and they disappear from system.

Have disabled Imapi but have noticed that Event Viewer shows sending a start Imapi CD-Burning COM signal, then it show Imapi starting then stopping just before each Error of either Idechndr or atapi Error starting up

For a baseline SYSTEM INFORMATION overview:
System Summary
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name VIPER
System Manufacturer vpr Matrix
System Model 1600
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 2 GenuineIntel ~1594 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. PT84510A.86A.0030.P08.0301300054, 1/30/2003
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)"
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 250.79 MB
Total Virtual Memory 1.72 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.26 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

CONFLICTS/SHARING
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF Intel(R) 82845 Processor to AGP Controller - 1A31
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64 Pro

IRQ 23 U.S. Robotics 56K Voice Host Int
IRQ 23 Intel(r) 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller - 2444

IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System
IRQ 9 Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443

IRQ 17 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
IRQ 17 SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF Intel(R) 82845 Processor to AGP Controller - 1A31
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64 Pro


I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB Intel(R) 82845 Processor to AGP Controller - 1A31
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64 Pro


DMA
Channel 2 Standard floppy disk controller OK
Channel 4 Direct memory access controller OK



COMPONENTS - CD-ROM
Drive D:
Description CD-ROM Drive
Media Loaded No
Media Type CD-ROM
Name LITE-ON LTR-24102B
Manufacturer (Standard CD-ROM drives)
Status OK
Transfer Rate Not Available
SCSI Target ID 0
PNP Device ID IDE\CDROMLITE-ON_LTR-24102B 5S54_ \5&29F63E6A&0&0.0.0
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), 46.38 KB (47,488 bytes), 8/17/2001 12:52 PM)

Drive E:
Description CD-ROM Drive
Media Loaded No
Media Type CD-ROM
Name LITEON DVD-ROM LTD163
Manufacturer (Standard CD-ROM drives)
Status OK
Transfer Rate Not Available
SCSI Target ID 1
PNP Device ID IDE\CDROMLITEON_DVD-ROM_LTD163_ GH5E____\5&29F63E6A&0&0.1.0
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), 46.38 KB (47,488 bytes), 8/17/2001 12:52 PM)

COMPONENTS-STORAGE-IDE
Name Intel(r) 82801BA Bus Master IDE Controller
Manufacturer Intel
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_244B&SUBSYS_50548086&REV_05\3&61AAA01&0&F9
I/O Port 0x0000FFA0-0x0000FFAF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\intelide.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), 4.63 KB (4,736 bytes), 8/17/2001 12:51 PM)

Name Primary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCIIDE\IDECHANNEL\4&F906996&0&0
I/O Port 0x000001F0-0x000001F7
I/O Port 0x000003F6-0x000003F6
IRQ Channel IRQ 14
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), 84.88 KB (86,912 bytes), 8/17/2001 12:51 PM)

Name Secondary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCIIDE\IDECHANNEL\4&F906996&0&1
I/O Port 0x00000170-0x00000177
I/O Port 0x00000376-0x00000376
IRQ Channel IRQ 15
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\atapi.sys (5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920), 84.88 KB (86,912 bytes), 8/17/2001 12:51 PM)

The above was posted on dvdrbase.com and the thread's administrator offered it may be an Intel Mobo/chip/Intel Application Accelerator issue (seems there are Intel issues with similar problems) Unfortunately, resetting the bus to a standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller and standard windows drivers only changed the Errors and the drives continue to 'disappear'. At least I was able to flash and upgrade the drives' firmware to their current versions but the issues continue. For his responses and my current circumstance/pending next steps, see:

Any assistance and/or insight into possible causes/solutions the members of this board might offer would be greatly appreciated.

Telecorder

[brad]

[Telecorder]

Haven't tried any different IDE cables, as yet. I've been trying to get the initiative to pull out the furniture to access the spaghetti behid the PCs.

The optical drives came installed with the PC so I'm assuming, at this point, that their jumpers are set correctly.

The Hard Drive is booted to Primary Master with the Primary Slave being empty.

The optical drives are booted with the CD-RW as Secondary Master and the DVD-ROM as Secondary Slave.

When the optical drives disappear, the Secondary shows empty for both Primary and Master. When I run BELARC Advisor, it reads both drives as being present, even after they 'disappear' from the system...

Telecorder

[Telecorder]

[Telecorder]

[brad]

[Restek]

[Telecorder]

[Telecorder]

[Telecorder]

At this time, I'm currently looking at the 80-pin cable as a possible culprit to my issues. The following is an update based on some other postings...

RE: Different IDE Cable

quote:
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Originally posted by DrMDJ
In fact, I'd try a differrent IDE cable all together.
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DrMDJ:
You may be on to something. A couple of replies to my postings on other boards are beginning to lead me to a possible issue/solution. The following are the replies to my inquiry about having the Master at mid-cable and a status update:


quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tex
Do you have all the devices set to cable select? If not set every ide device you have anywhere to cable select and reboot. Don't set them to master/slave unless they are pretty old. With cable select they alwasy set themselves to wherever they are plugged in.

Takes a lot of the possible probs out of the picture. The reason it reports 40 pin cables is 99 percent of the cd and dvd players can not operate faster then udma33 (udma mode 2) which does not utilize or recognize a 80 pin cable.
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I checked within BIOS and all are set for AUTO to select cable. The devices' jumpers are set for the CD-RW as Secondary Master (mid-cable) and the DVD was set as Slave at the end of the cable. One of the replies to my postings at dvdrbase.com was from roadworker commenting on my question if, from what I've read elsewhere, the Master should be at the end of the cable. the following was his reply and my reply/update regarding the latest...



quote:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roadworker
This is indeed the case for 80 pin cables....,your cdrw/dvdrom setup was correct for a 40 pin cable.....
There are also problems sometimes with some cdrw and dvdrw drives that are connected to a 80 pin cable,not every drive can handle the extra info that is sent through those cables....80pins are fine if a harddisk is set as master with a cdrw or dvdrom as slave,since the harddisk can handle the full command set that's send by a 80pin cable.....connecting a 80pin to 2 atapi devices is unnecessary,since they are ATA33 devices(UDMA Mode2),the 40pin is a perfect match,they will get their maximum transfer rate through a 40pin...
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Didn't notice this post until now. I set up the CD-RW as Secondary Master (jumper was set for CD-RW to be Master) at the end of the cable with the DVD fully disconnected Sunday at 16:00PST and left PC on all night. Worked all day without any errors/problems

Popped case this evening (Monday - 20:50 PST), disconnected the CD-RW and set the jumper for the DVD to be Secondary Master at the end of the cable and fired it up. Windows detected it and its up and running with the CD-RW off system. So far, so good.

I'll leave the PC on overnight and see how things go tommorrow. Since both drives appear, at this time, to be fully functional by themselves, I'm beginning to wonder if, as you indicate, the IAA or other upgrade install is sending additional info that the CD-RW, as Master, wasn't able to contend with, when both drives were installed.

Then again, I'm not sure what the bus was set up with directly from the PC Mfg since the problems only started in the last few weks. I assume some form of Intel since the original errors indicated IdeChnDR having the timeout errors. If I'm not mistaken, the issues might have started when I ran something like BELARC or SiSoft Sandra that indicated the availability/need for updated drivers. I'll have to go back in my down load folders to cross check the dates against the error log dates to confirm but that's what its looking like.

With the OEM configuration of an 80-Pin cable connecting to the CD-RW in the middle jumpered as Secondary Master and the DVD connected as the jumpered Secondary Slave at the end, the IAA install, along with the upgrades to the BIOS/Mobo etc. may have initiated additional query signals that the 80-pin cable sent and the CD-RW, as Master, wasn't set up to handle... (both of us )

I suppose that if the DVD is able to function for the next 24-hours or so W/O problems, I'll swap positions of the drives in the case to facilitate connecting the CD-RW at the end of the 80-pin cable as jumpered Secondary Master and the DVD at mid-cable as Slave and fire the system back up. (I checked and the cable isn't long enough to reverse the connections with the drives in their current case slots .

Then, again, are there any issues with setting the device jumpers to cable select and the DVD at the end of cable (assuming it would then become the Secondary Master being at the end of the cable)? From what I've read, its better to have the CD-RW as Master...

If the problems start up again after hooking both up to the 80-pin cable, I guess I'll be making a run to Best Buy for a 40-pin cable...

Here's hoping to a resolution...

Again, many thanks, roadworker, Tex, and DrMDJ for a possible solution (or, at least, one that needs to be eliminated before moving on to something else...)

Will post when circumstances change...


Telecorder

[Restek]

Some of those theories sound a little weird, but then it's a weird problem! I've certainly never heard of any device having problems with an 80pin cable before. Also, just FYI, this business about having masters/slaves at different places in the cable. This all depends on what sort of cable you have. If you have a cable select cable (this will have a twist in it) then both drives can have their jumpers set to 'cable select' and the drive on the end will be the master, the one in the middle the slave. If you do NOT have a cable with a twist in it then you need to set the jumpers as master/slave manually, and then it doesn't matter which drive is where in the cable

[Telecorder]